Every Tribe And Tongue Series

with your blood you purchased men for God

from every tribe and language and people and nation.

There is no one this can be other than Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, sacrifice for all of humanity. He has the same power and worthiness as God Himself and He alone can take the scroll and execute to its fullest the Holy and righteous will of God.

John witnesses this statement made by the elders, and likely remembered what Jesus said:

And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. Matthew 24:14 (NIV)

John knew that Jesus came as a light to the world and that his vision for salvation was global. It is no accident that this savior who came to save the whole world in the end has representatives from every corner of the globe:

• (tribe) that covers ethnic groups

• (nation) geographic political groups

• (tongue) linguistic groups

This covers everything.

• The people in this room know of Christ through their nation and their language.

• However, all of your ethnic groups have not been reached in the same way.

• Some of those ethnicities are in this nation, but do not speak the same language.

• Others share your ethnicity and your language, but not your nation

By clarifying that every nation tribe and tongue would be represented, John is saying that only after the whole world has an opportunity will Jesus come again.

This should speak to us of responsibility

We are fond of noting that every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, but I wonder if we often remind ourselves of the magnificence of that proclamation. I believe that the risen of all time fall down and worship Christ, not because they necessarily want to at that point, but because they cannot help themselves. I’m sure their hearts are fully in their activities and songs, but that makes them no less overwhelmed. Or thankful that they were reached.

We cannot say "even so Lord Jesus, come quickly," if we are not willing to do all we can to see people from every tribe nation and tongue reached.

Again and again, Jesus declared that His mission was to the entire world, but when He rose and went back to the Father, He commanded His followers to go into all the world and spread the Gospel. Clearly, His vision was global, but His method required His followers to have a hand.

That is why we support missionaries. We all go where we can, but it is our responsibility to send people where we ourselves cannot go. People of God dedicate themselves to doing what is difficult in the name of Jesus for the furtherance of His kingdom and to see this vision fulfilled. When you give to our offerings, about a dime of every dollar goes to reach people beyond your grasp:

• Students in Lithuania

• Working class people in Central Asia

• Churches in Philadelphia

• Mothers in need

• Addicts reaching toward freedom

Specialists and courageous people, willing to risk everything for the Gospel have obeyed the call and are working hard to see this vision fulfilled.